We will have to wait several days to see how voters broadly, and in key states, assess the debate, but it appears that Romney gave a strong performance. I suspect that that means that uncertainty about the outcome will persist for a while longer.

The race is likely to tighten from here. For Romney to have a realistic chance he needs to close the gap in key states materially in the wake of his strong performance. We will have some sense of whether or not this is happening within a few days.